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Hey there Chess Junction, thank you so much my friend! Yes, the great Mikhail Tal. Love that quote from him. Too bad I didn't have enough room on my shirt to finish the rest of the quote ha!

@chesswithcoachmark thanks for clarifying!

Hey Devendra, fantastic! Thanks for watching and good luck!

Hi there, that's awesome that you're enjoying the series. Please let me know if you have any questions about it. I'm happy to answer. Yes, you're the second person to ask me about the Zukertort, which I play quite a bit so I will definitely add it to my to-do list at some point. Good luck my friend!

Hey Kejimi, you're actually the first person to ask me about the Benko, so if I get some more interest, I'm more than happy to do it. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

@chesswithcoachmark you're welcome. I doubt anyone will bring it up. I can't remember who posted about it. I like the opening and want to understand it better

Hi wirsyt, thank you so much my friend. It's my pleasure. Let's do this!

@@gregdobrick3410 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you Greg! Thank you.

You’re quite welcome SEAKPhotog! So glad to hear it!

@@SEAKPhotog You’re welcome!

@@franbrok Merry Christmas to you as well Frantisek and Happy New year!

@@muzahidhussain516 Coming soon!

@@SEAKPhotog You’re welcome!

@@SEAKPhotog You’re welcome!

@@SEAKPhotog You’re welcome!

@@SEAKPhotog You’re welcome!

@@joshuad450 Hey Joshua. Haha, yeah that was a scene from the movie “The Matrix”. Just making a connection with the smothered mate and that scene where he is trapped by a bunch of people surrounding him.

@@SEAKPhotog You’re welcome!

@@SuperTrucker2019 Hey Super Trucker. Thanks for the comment and you’re welcome. Yes those German words are a little tough to pronounce!

@@kenpawn5876 Hey Ken, yes indeed. Thanks for watching!

@@SEAKPhotog You’re welcome!

Nice Old Crowe! Your solution was correct, however 2.Kh1 is actually a little worse. Black would not take the exchange on d4, but would take with the rook. Wasn't that crazy? Thanks so much for watching and good luck sir!

Hey SEAKPhotog, thanks so much for your kindness and I'm so glad to hear it's helping. Rock on!

Nice commandpro. Right on it ha!

Hey neojake, thanks so much for the comment. So after Rxd4, exd4, and Nf3 you're right, the king can just move in the corner. But then Black plays Nxd4 and the white queen is attacked and the other knight on e4 is protected by the rook on e8. White is in big trouble here. In this line Nxf2+ is a huge threat because white cannot take back on f2 due to the back rank mate theats on e1. That's why the engine has Rxd4 as about a pawn better than the immediate Nf3+. Good luck with your chess!

Hey Willy Wonka. 100% agree. I actually have a young student around 1300 or so but his puzzle rating is 2300. Huge gap. I would actually argue that doing tons of puzzles is only 50% of the equation. I think a lot of players don't understand that having good tactical awareness and knowing when to even look for tactics is just as or even more important than the calculation skills needed to see the continuation. If your puzzle rating is 2300 and your calculation skills are off the chart, but you can never find one in the game, what's the point right? That's why I have a couple of videos on this channel titled "Tactics Recognition" where we talk about 6 conditions that need to be met in order trigger that alarm in your head to treat the position like a puzzle and start looking for tactics. Thanks for your comment and good luck with your chess!

Hey Sarthakop, awesome! Thanks so much for letting me know, I love hearing these things. Good luck with your chess!

@chesswithcoachmark thanks 🙏

Thank you Frantisek, you're very kind as always. Many blessings to your family this holiday season and next year as well!

We all do my friend. We all do.

Hey Sanjay, thanks for your comment. Absolutely, I have many videos I'll be uploading relatively soon on end game strategies/techniques. It will be the first thing I do when I finish the Caro-Kann mini-series and speedrun. Here is a quick list of just some of the things you can expect once I get there. Yes, I was a bit inactive around the Thanksgiving holidays, but with Christmas coming up, my private 1-on-1 lessons schedule will lighten up due to people traveling, etc. so I will have more time to dedicate to this channel over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned! End Game Principles Pawn End Games Trading Down in the End Game for Easy Conversion Passed Pawns in the End Game King Activity in the End Game Distant Opposition and Zugswang Sacrificing to Promote in the End Game Space Obstruction

Hey David!

Very nice analysis Daniel. Cheers!

Fantastic, you're very welcome. Keep pushing!

Thank you Greg, I really appreciate it!

I think Qc7+ is still more practical. After that, you don’t have to calculate anything. The trade on c7 is forced. Then you just take on Bxe5, put the bishop on Bc3, and that’s it. With Qf8+, you will need to consider Kd7, after which you can trade the queens and the king ends on Kxd6. Then, you have to spend a little more thought to ensure that e and h pawns are not dangerous. Of course, still completely winning, but no need to bother with more pieces on the board when a simpler configuration leads to a no-brain victory.

Hey Gabong, good question and I agree with everything oSlig just said. So, as I mentioned in the video if you keep the queens on the board, that is technically the best way to play. Many times I look at chess from a statistics, odds, and winning percentage perspective. So the question really comes down to this. Would you rather keep the queens on the board with 1 more piece and risk losing the game (although unlikely) and being up +8, or would you rather get the queens off and be left with a winning end game that a 200 level player can convert with a 0% chance of losing being up +4? To me, the answer is obvious. Trade and convert an easy end game where you really don't have to think anymore. Plus as I mentioned, many times your opponent will just resign after you trade, so it ends the game faster. You have to understand that engines don't think like humans of course, so there are times when playing practical chess and playing the best move are two completely different things. I would much rather play a suboptimal move that guarantees I win the game than playing the best move and risk losing. Thanks so much for watching and good luck!

Hey Mark. Yes, so white had just played the move Bb5 hitting our queen, so before we moved it, we were counting the undefended pieces. But of course no other moves made sense, so we simply moved the queen. Thanks so much for watching!

​@@chesswithcoachmarkthanks for your response, but I don't think you answered the question. At 36:40 you said "their queen is hanging also" but I don't see why that is...

Oh haha, I'm so sorry Mark. I misread your question. I thought you were talking about the black queen. Yes, so when I went back to edit the video, I realized the error, so if you watch it again, you'll see I threw up the words "No, she's not" as a joke due to my mistake.

@@chesswithcoachmark oh I missed that! Thanks!

Well done!

Hey Henrik, thanks so much for the comment. I will certainly continue posting. Cheers!

Hey Salem, you're quite welcome and glad to hear it. For the Dutch, I'm going to recommend the Bg5 setup on move 2. The idea is to not allow black to play an early Nf6 as you will simply take it and leave black with an unhealthy pawn structure. The basic setup for white with this is you will play d4, then Bg5, then e3, then Nc3, you will castle long, and push your h pawn down the board to tear down the structure. If you play Bg5 and black plays h6, you drop your bishop back to h4 and if they play g5, you play e3 and they cannot trap your bishop or take it because you're threatening Qh5# OUCH!. I think it's a very good setup. For the Bird's opening I'm going to recommend you research the From's Gambit with 1.e5. Very good way to combat the Bird. Good luck!

@ thank you so much…the anti dutch lines looks very solid i’m very happy with it but whenever i try the from i discover that most bird players are also kings gambit expert and they take me into uncharted waters so i was looking for a solid equalizing line rather than gambit :) im sure you know what i mean…y don’t u consider making pgn courses and offering them for sale like Bog Mio

lol, that's hilarious. I have already considered that and am currently working on that very thing with the PGN files. At some point down the road, I plan to advertise my entire repertoire to be used in conjunction with my chess software call Chess Position Trainer (which is very cheap), although the PGN files can be used in many other sources of course. By the way, who is Bog Mio? Thanks for the suggestion.

@ sorry that was Big Mio aka The Butcher a great very under rated chess channel

Oh yes, I love the Butcher! He's been featured many times with the ChessBrahs who I've kept up with for years.

Hey Bugsy, thanks for watching!

Yes, he said the computer didn’t like the move which is correct. As you say to give check with the queen on f8 means you have two minor pieces. Obviously much better.

Hey Dado, yes as I mentioned in the video if you keep the queens on the board, that is technically the best way to play. My background is in engineering, math, etc. so many times I look at chess from a statistics, odds, and winning percentage perspective. So the question really comes down to this. Would rather keeps the queens on the board with 1 more piece and risk losing the game (although unlikely) and being up +8, or would you rather get the queens off and be left with a winning end game that a 200 level player can convert with a 0% chance of losing being up +4? To me, the answer is obvious. Trade and convert an easy end game where you really don't have to think anymore. Plus as I mentioned, many times your opponent will just resign after you trade, so it ends the game faster. Thanks so much for watching and good luck!

@@chesswithcoachmark He did not mean to keep the queens on board; He meant that if you play Qf8+, the queen trade is forced to happen as well, only you get to keep the knight!

@@newpgaston6891 Ah yes, I misunderstood the original comment. Yes, absolutely Qf8+ works as well as long as the queens and all other pieces come off the board where it doesn’t matter whether you’re up 1 piece, 2 pieces, or 6 pieces. It’s an easily won end game. Thanks for pointing that out!